Improved knapsack-sling



' UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICEO D. W. C. BAXTER, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA. v

IMPROVED KNAPSACK-SLING.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 37,893, dated March 17, 1863.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that l, DE WITT CLINTON BAX- TER, of the city of Philadelphia, and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Knapsack Slings or Supporters; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full and correct description of the same, reference bcinghad to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure l is a rear perspective view of the sling or supporter without the knapsack. Fig.

2 is a similar view showing the sack attached to the supporter by the straps, and Fig. 3 is a side view of a soldier with the supporter and knapsaek in position on. his person.

The same part is marked by the same letter of reference wherever it occurs.

The ordinary knapsack is attached to the person of the soldier by straps passing over his shoulders and under his arms, and there being nothing to hold it off from his body it obeys the law of gravitation and falls close in upon the small of the back,77 where it presses and chafes in a painful manner and keeps up a heat and irritation extremely prejudicial to the health of the soldier. The pressure of the shoulder-straps also upon the nerves and blood-vessels of the axilla ohstructs the circulation, producing local congestion, throwing the blood to the head and large organs, and producing faintness, vertigo, and a tendency to apoplexy and paralysis. These causes add to the necessary labor of the soldier in carrying his outta great deal of preventable pain, fatigue, and injury, all of which become conspicuous on long or forced marches in the great amount of straggling that takes place. The shoulder-straps, besides their other ill effects, prevent all freedom of motion in the arms and render it almost impracticable for the soldier to handle his piece while his knapsack is on his back. Hence, the first thing the soldier does on going into action is to throw away his knapsack. On long and forced marches, also, great losses occur from this cause-losses which are not to be measured alone by the pecuniary cost of the outfit thus relinquished, but by the suffering, privation, and sickness they bring to the men who, with their sacks, lose their means of cleanliness and protection against the effects of atmospheric changes.

Considerable experience in military life has led me to observe the defects of the mode of attaching the ordinary knapsack, and to attempt a remedy for them, which I think I have found in the present invention.

The nature of my inventionconsists in supportingthe sack by means of strips of wood (or metal, if preferred) extending from the shoulders to the hips, in such position as to prevent all pressure upon the loins, which are left free, while the weight is thrown vertically coat, or other similar articles on reconnoiter-` ing, scouting, or picket duty, when the knapsack cannot or is not required to be carried, thus avoiding the ordinary uncomfortable and cumbersome mode of transporting these articles, which, as now carried, slung across either shoulder, either interfere with the use of the accouterments of the soldier or prevent his sighting his piece.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my improved knapsack sling or supporter, Iwill proceed to describe its construction, referring to the drawings, in which- A marks the strips, which I prefer to make of some tough, elastic wood-such as hickory-and long enough to reach from the top of the sack, when in position on the back, to the upper part of the hips. To suit men of dierent sizes two or three different lengths will have to be provided. These strips are rounded at the ends and along their inner angles to prevent any sharp edge or point coming into contact with the person. They are united at top by a strap, B, and at bottom by the broad band C, which rests upon the upper portion of the hips. The straps D E serve to attach the sack to the outer side of the strips, which is made iiat to give it a good firm bearing. The sack K is of the ordinary construction. The strips A are attached to the body of the wearer by the straps F G H, which are riveted to the upper and lower ends of the strips A, the strap F being riveted to the inner side of the upper end of the strips, and the straps H to the outer side of the lower end of those strips. The straps F and G are fastened together by a rivet at a, so as to ha-ve motion on each other. The .same rivet attaches the breast-strap l, which is buckled across the breast of the soldier, and serves to draw the straps F and Gfrom under the arms of the wearer toward the middle of the breast, as shown in Fig. 3.

L marks the blanketstraps.

It will be specially observed that no straps pass directly under the arms of the soldier or press upon the nerves and blood-vessels which are so numerous in that portion of the body, which is thus relieved from the injurious effects of that mode of attachment. The knapt sack, also, instead of hanging off from the 2. The strips A A, arranged and operating substantially in the manner described.

The above specification of my said invention signed and witnessed at Washington this 7th day'fof January, A. D. 1863.

y D. W. C. BAXTER'. Witnesses:

EDM. F. BROWN,

CHAs. F. STANSBURY. 

